Our Expert Opinion

BuyHTTP

BuyHTTP Introduction

BuyHTTP is a New Jersey-based hosting company that's been helping businesses get online for over a decade with shared, cloud, dedicated, and VPS solutions. They aim to bring reliable solutions at an affordable price. They focus on open source hosting by offering packages tailored to major open source software like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.

In addition to shared hosting servers, BuyHTTP also has a range of cloud, dedicated, and VPS solutions as well. Their cloud servers are run on the OS of your choice and their dedicated solution offer NGINX and LiteSpeed as well as CloudLinux in a LAMP setup. BuyHTTP also offers add-on services like SSL certificates, TRUSTe privacy policy, email marketing, and managed hosting, providing a complete business solution for those who want one.

Generally speaking, BuyHTTP has a broad enough offering that they're going to a fine host for most organizations looking to get online, hassle free. Because of their focus on open source CMS, ecommerce, wiki, and forum solutions, they are a better fit for small businesses without the resources for subscription software.

Infrastructure

BuyHTTP uses commercial grade DELL servers with 10k RPM RAID-10 drives and Xeon processors for their shared hosting options. Their dedicated servers can be configured a few different ways:

Intel Celeron processors with SATA drives

Intel dual core Celeron processors with SATA drives

Intel Core2 Duo processors with SATA drives

Intel dual core Xeon processors with SSD drives

BuyHTTP operates one datacentre out of Secaucus, NJ. The datacentre includes more than enough security for those worried about their websites, with uninterruptible power supply and backup generators, biometric entrance security, and a redundant Cisco BGP routing and switching infrastructure. The network is supplied by several Tier 1 IP providers.

Support and Customer Service

BuyHTTP offers customer service via phone, email, and a ticketing system. They do have a live chat function on their site, but it's only for sales. They promise a maximum response time of 6 hours with an average of 15 minutes per ticket. In their terms of service, they state that they provide 24/7 customer support. This is done primary via their ticketing system, as they only provide level 1 support over the phone. Their phone support is based in Phoenix, Arizona and is offered in either Spanish or English.

In addition to their 24/7 support, they also provide an extensive knowledgebase for the most common questions. This is both searchable and carefully categorized, making it easy to find the information you need. The knowledgebase includes plenty of pre- sales questions as well, which is a nice touch that many competitors don't offer.

Finally, in keeping with their commitment to low cost hosting via open source technology, they have ample tutorials on both WordPress and Joomla.

Backups and Security

BuyHTTP provides backups for their shared and dedicated hosting via their own backup software called BuyHTTP Data Vault. This creates multiple recovery points for each file and continuous and automatic backups every 6 hours. You can also restore single files if needed or you can restore an entire server should yours become unstable. They also do weekly off-site backups.

For security, BuyHTTP offers SiteLock Security, which includes SiteLock Enterprise, the virus scanning system, the SiteLock Secure Malware Alert & Removal Tool (SMART), and application scanning. They also have SpamExperts email filtering for all of their hosting plans.

The BuyHTTP managed shared and dedicated hosting options also keep your server and software completely up to date and constantly monitor your server for any problems with a guaranteed 15-minute response time. However, this guarantee is not mentioned in their terms of service.

Uptime Guarantee

BuyHTTP does have a 99.9% uptime guarantee for their shared and VPS hosting solutions, and a 100% network uptime guarantee for their dedicated hosting plans.

They use third party monitoring companies to determine their uptime, and you can report any downtime yourself if you can prove it. Their uptime is tracked by calendar month and if they fail to meet their 99.9% guarantee you'll be credited 500% of the downtime experienced beyond the 99.9%. For example, if your site was down for 0.2% of the time in January, then you would be eligible for 5% of your month credited (0.1% x 500%). The maximum cap on this is 100% of your month or a full month's credit. You have to make your claim within 14 days of the month that you think you experienced more downtime than expected. This guarantee excludes scheduled maintenance or malicious third party attacks like a DoS.

Billing and Payment Policies

BuyHTTP bills monthly and has a 9-day grace period before they can interrupt your service. All payment is made either by PayPal, credit card, or e-check.

The BuyHTTP cancelation and refund policy is that you get refunded for any unused portion of your plan, excluding your current month. So while you don't get any money back for the service you've used so far, you do get money back for the service you haven't yet had a chance to use. For example, if you sign a 12 month contract and pre-pay ahead of time, and want to cancel after 6 months, you'll get 6 months back (minus set up and cancellation fees).

Guarantees

BuyHTTP offers two guarantees - their 30 day money back guarantee, and their price freeze guarantee

Their money back guarantee only applies to their shared and reseller accounts. The money back guarantee means that should you request a refund in the 30 days after you begin hosting with BuyHTTP, you'll be given your money back minus any setup fees or professional services. These are always non-refundable.

BuyHTTP also offers a price freeze guarantee. They promise that whatever you pay on the day that you buy will be the same price you pay as long as you stay on that package.

Summary

BuyHTTP is a standard hosting company. They offer a fine service for a range of clients, including shared, cloud, VPS, dedicated, and reseller solutions. What sets them apart from other companies is their commitment to small and medium sized businesses. They cater to these by offering plenty of open source and managed server options, as well as a range of professional IT services like email marketing and SSL certification. With stock standard technology and support options, BuyHTTP is a good fit for most customers, and a fantastic fit for small and medium sized businesses.